Honor (aka Tazendra)

I think Honor is four memories behind. Here's hoping she doesn't take all of them at once, because she's got two Neg-Sigs in there -- her death and this one.

( And yet she ran. )

I have no clue why I have this as 'want this soon'. Oh, well.

( To Piro's eye, the most remarkable aspect to the appearance of the knobby, sinewy, dark-complexioned Dragonlord before them was that, unlike Piro and his companions, he showed no signs of having been traveling; that is, his uniform was clean, and even showed signs of sharp creases, such as are made by a one that engages in cleaning and pressing of uniforms as a profession. )

This is another memory when Tazendra is a young woman in the Phoenix Guard. The four of them -- her and Aerich, Khaavren and Pel -- are hanging around in the house they've rented together in the capital, specifically Aerich's room since he has nice, comfortable chairs.

Khaavren thanks Pel for helping them out with introductions when they first met and asks Pel something about the politics of the court, because Khaavren is from the countryside and this is all so new to him. Tazendra actually seems to be listening to this, so I have to summarize it.

( So, state of the Empire. )

What Tazendra Gets
-- More information on how the Empire works. Good luck getting Honor to explain it in a coherent fashion, but...
-- It is totally appropriate to kill someone for insulting your artwork, but, for legal reasons, it would be best to do it in a duel, rather than cutting off his head and jamming paintbrushes in his eyes.
-- Second mention of normal humans (Easterners). Here there is some sentiment of 'damn barbarians', but it's something Honor can easily file under 'well the Easterners in Sabra are different, since they aren't trying to invade my homeland'.
-- It's better to be decisive than to give into fear of the unknown. Not that Tazendra doesn't already do this. But she'll argue more for doing things than showing caution.
-- You know, Tazendra now knows most of Aerich's backstory, far more than he does.
-- Like I said in chan, she may figure out that El has told her 'we both die, and that's why I regret never acting on my feelings', since he did so in the same way he related his past. Tazendra is occasionally often unobservant enough to fall for language tricks, but she tends to overcompensate for confusion by commenting on things to show she's listening. Especially since Khaavren obviously got more than the surface layer of the story. So either she tuned Aerich out -- which I doubt, since she grasps the point of the story and argues against it -- or she got it.

( Read more... )

( Khaavren was awakened early the following morning by a remarkably loud sound, in the form of a 'boom' similar to what a heavy log might make when dropped form a great height into a rocky valley of the sort that generals considerable echos. )

Honor Learns
-- So, apparently my bad track record with my uniforms in SLT is something carried over.
-- More magical theory. Given how Tazendra pauses when trying to explain what happened, she's thinking about the magic she does. The spell she used is probably the same as the last memory's ones, with adjustments for the Orb, but she's also troubleshooting to figure out why she blew herself up. At this point, she may not be able to develop new spells off the cuff, but can at least modify the ones she remembers.
-- Clothing repair. Given the sewing minigame some weeks back, Honor knows how to sew, but she got a boost to it. Given time constraints, this was probably a rush job (and/or seeing who had extra layers that she could borrow to deal with the tears and holes).

( It was on a Farmday in late winter of the 264th year of the Interregnum that Piro, Kytraan, Tazendra, and Zerika, accompanied by Mica and Lar, set out from Dzur Mountain, bound to Deathgate Falls and the Paths of the Dead. )

It also occurs to me that this was the most involved spellcasting Tazendra has done in her memories. The other two cases were quick reactions, but it takes actual controlled motion and chanting to get the effects in this memory. OTOH, this is the first time she remembers casting outside of combat -- and in one fight, she had the Orb. So I can imagine a lot of non-attack Elder Sorcery is making sure nothing blows up in your face. Attack Elder Sorcery has a little leeway if you don't care what happens to your opponent as long as it stays contained. Granted, the first time Tazendra uses Orb 2.0, her spell blows up in her face thanks to the gods souping it up, but IIRC, one of the benefits of the Orb is the whole 'idiots less likely to reduce landmarks to raw chaos' thing. (Idiot sorcerers don't last long, but they can at least kill themselves without risking the world.)

Or else she just knew that none of the assembled (besides Mica, and he doesn't count) had seen true magic because of the lack of the Orb, so she was showing off. Which is always a possibility for Tazendra.

But actually getting some of the theory will probably help her refine things. Once she gets a power source, of course.

I was wrong. This was not the floating castle memory (That's the Battle of Dzur Mountain). But it does have awesome fighting abilities.

( Tazendra is in the middle of nowhere with Khaavren's son, Piro, Uttrik's son, Kytraan, a Teckla servant (not Mica), five surrendered bandits, and the Empress (who has the Orb circling her head). This is not the setup for a joke. )

( Tazendra and Pel are walking back to Khaavren's place -- she's probably about 600 years old here.  )

Commentary
First combat memory! Honestly, Tazendra probably won't gain much of a boost here, besides in reaction time and aim, since it wasn't a fair fight at all. But she remembers the type of sword she favors, and will probably go ask Ophiuchus for one.

As for magic, she remembers now that she is a sorceress and one sufficiently skilled and knowledgeable to use it in a fight. On the other hand, she won't be able to cast anything in Sabra yet. Basically Dragaeran sorcery takes three things. The first is the knowledge of the spell. The second is a source of power -- Dragaera has seas of amorphia/chaos which serves nicely. The third is the Imperial Orb, an artifact that orbits the current ruler's head and does many useful things, one of which is serve as a filter between the raw power of amorphia and a citizen sorcerer's mind. One can cast without the Orb, but it takes extra knowledge to avoid Bad Things -- knowledge that Tazendra hasn't learned by the time of this memory because a) it's illegal and b) it's dangerous and c) why bother when the Orb is here and lets me blow stuff up really good. One can't cast without a power source, period*.

So as soon as she tries the spell, she'll realize that she can't use it here (yet), but won't really be able to verbalize why besides 'I have no link to the Orb' -- a bit like trying to get on the internet and having Firefox not found. (In this analogy, Elder Sorcery would be using the console...)

* I could tl;dr at you about my theories on sorcery versus witchcraft, but...

From The Phoenix Guards, page 438

Kathanan and Tazendra had quite filled the walls of their cell with studies of each other and reminiscences of their recent adventures, and had fallen into the unhappy stage of criticizing their own work, after which it would only be a matter of short time before they took to criticizing each other's, with unpleasant results sure to follow.

So, this is what Honor gets. She's in a prison cell with another woman, a Dragonlord dressed for travel. As is she. The walls are covered with paintings done in charcoal. Some she recognizes as being by her own hand, and others she recognizes as her cell mate. Right now, they are engaged in pointing out the flaws of the work, with Tazendra aware that her cell mate does have some skill, and her cell mate telling her she has promise. But, Tazendra is starting to see where her cell mate is right about her art, and is wondering if she should, perhaps be agreeing and adding to the criticism.

Mostly she is bored and restless, and staring at the walls and talking to her cell mate are all she has to do for the foreseeability future.

Effects:
-- Art criticism +5. Honor may also try painting, since apparently she paints.
-- She is in prison for some reason. It's not a bad cell -- it's clean and somewhat dry and spacious enough for two, and has two straw pallets and windows (though they are barred and too high to see out of) and a place for a fire. But she has been here long enough to cover the walls with paintings.
-- Some scenes of the paintings -- people and battles and armies and such, with some landscapes.
-- She doesn't know why she's in prison, or why her cell mate is, besides that they are obviously friendly.